[Community_garden] how to deal with poison ivy

Mon Jan 7 14:26:33 EST 2008

The Amway product "Basic H" was a survival tool for my Willamette Valley
childhood...bathing in the product within 4-6 hours of known exposure.
Beth Ann Beamer, Madras, OR.

-----Original Message-----
From: community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org
[mailto:community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org] On Behalf Of
Gwenne Hayes-Stewart
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 11:08 AM
To: Nadel-Klein, Jane H; Mike McGrath;
community_garden at list.communitygarden.org; yarrow at sfo.com
Subject: Re: [Community_garden] how to deal with poison ivy

My family doc, after years of treating my February tangles with PI, told
me to douse exposed areas with beer, let it sit for thirty minutes and
while waiting, drink the remaining beer.  

Gwenne

PS Tecnu has a pre-exposure oil that works well. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Nadel-Klein, Jane H [mailto:Jane.NadelKlein at trincoll.edu] 
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 9:18 AM
To: Mike McGrath; community_garden at list.communitygarden.org;
yarrow at sfo.com
Subject: Re: [Community_garden] how to deal with poison ivy

My husband and I have been using the post-contact product Tecnu for
years (available at the drugstore) and it seems to work well. 

Jane Nadel-Klein

-----Original Message-----
From: community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org on behalf of
Mike McGrath
Sent: Sat 1/5/2008 9:18 AM
To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org; yarrow at sfo.com
Subject: Re: [Community_garden] how to deal with poison ivy

Ha! Dr. Epstein was the premier source for my poison ivy articles. I met
him 
back in '85, and he gave me one of the first test cans of Ivy-Block
fresh 
from the factory (it was an aerosol spray back then).

I interviewed him fresh every couple of years until around '97; he's the
one 
who hammered the 'water alone' into me over and over. He said alcohol
worked 
as well, but that there was always a better chance of getting to water
first 
and time is off the essence.

Read the poison ivy removal story I linked to earlier. He and I came up
with 
a great system to get rid of the stuff without any skin exposure.

                                        Keep on Scratching!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <yarrow at sfo.com>
To: <community_garden at list.communitygarden.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 1:35 AM
Subject: Re: [Community_garden] how to deal with poison ivy

> The postexposure external-alcohol-flush protocol was developed by
> poison-oak expert and dermatology professor William L. Epstein, MD.
> One of his research interests was occupational poison oak/ivy
> dermatitis (he died in 2006). Here's an excerpt from an FDA
> newsletter:
>
> <
> If you've been exposed to poison ivy, oak or sumac, if possible, stay
> outdoors until you complete the first two steps:
>
> * First, Epstein says, cleanse exposed skin with generous amounts of
> isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol. (Don't return to the woods or yard the
> same day. Alcohol removes your skin's protection along with the
> urushiol and any new contact will cause the urushiol to penetrate
> twice as fast.)
> * Second, wash skin with water. (Water temperature does not matter;
> if you're outside, it's likely only cold water will be available.)
> * Third, take a regular shower with soap and warm water. Do not use
> soap before this point because "soap will tend to pick up some of the
> urushiol from the surface of the skin and move it around," says
> Epstein.
> * Clothes, shoes, tools, and anything else that may have been in
> contact with the urushiol should be wiped off with alcohol and water.
> Be sure to wear gloves or otherwise cover your hands while doing this
> and then discard the hand covering.
>>
> source: http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/796_ivy.html
>
>
> Plain water may be less subject to misuse for some people, but
> whenever I've worked on projects that involved regular poison-oak
> contact, my workdays have lasted considerably longer than 20 minutes
> (minimum 4 hours). For several years, I've ended these workdays using
> Epstein's protocol, and have not contracted the rash.
>
> Whether you use water or alcohol, the important part is to use lots
> and lots, with no scrubbing or rubbing. Once you have washed your
> skin  -- even with water -- don't go back out to the Toxicodendron
> patch the same day. (Or, before you go out, apply IvyBlock lotion,
> which is the only FDA-approved lotion for prevention, then wait 15
> minutes. I haven't used it.)
>
> Severe cases of poison oak/ivy dermatitis do indeed require emergency
> care. On a field trip in the boonies where most of us traipsed
> through poison-ivy groundcovers without realizing it, only a few of
> us got the rash, but one person out of the 30 got a severe case with
> facial swelling and had to get to a hospital.
>
> Grubbing out the roots can be especially dangerous, because each time
> you break a little rootlet you're releasing urushiol onto your
> clothing, tools, or any exposed skin. I wouldn't do this unless I
> were one of the people who's (so far) immune -- though it's not
> uncommon for people to lose immunity!
>
> After exposure, Epstein said, the key is to continue to treat your
skin 
> gently.
> The itching can drive people out of their minds, judging from
> anecdotes on the lay websites devoted to poison ivy/oak. Tales of
> scraping off the rash or putting household chemicals or solvents on
> the skin abound. These sites have almost no  useful information and
> are more interesting as anthropological documents.
>
> _______________________________________________
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> 

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